Students take over Canfield for a day

May 8, 2014

On the morning of May 2, Canfield government saw a change of pace as students from the high school stepped into various government positions and ran special meetings. It was all part of the annual Civic Day event put on each year by Canfield Rotary.

The event is geared towards involving the students in a real government setting by letting them run a meeting and make decisions. They began the morning at 8:30 a.m. at the Canfield School Board office where they conducted a mock board meeting. Following the meeting, they toured elementary and middle school before crossing the parking lot to tour the police and fire stations.

At 10:30 a.m. the students assembled at City Hall where they conducted a mock city council meeting. One of the items the Student Council members passed was a motion to provide for the absence of final exams for all high school seniors.

They also held a recognition of residents desiring to appear before council. Rachel Nagy was first to address the council and she complained about pot holes in the city.

Acting council member Edmond Pilolli said, ''The city doesn't cover that and we don't have pot holes in the city.''

Victoria Bosze was next at the microphone. ''There is a lack of good lane painting at the Village Green on U.S. 224. You can't tell which lane you need to be in to go straight,'' she said.

Acting City Manager Gabby Meyer said, ''It will get painted as soon as weather permits.''

Following the city meeting, the students took part in a mock Mayor's Court, then headed to Canfield Township Hall where they again ran a mock meeting. Afterwards, they headed to St. Michael's family center for lunch with government officials and Rotarians.

Students and the positions they held for the morning were as follows:

In the city, Dan Brown was mayor; Alec Buchenic, Will Brown, Julie Gemmel, and Edmond Pilolli were city council members; Gabby Meyer was city manager; James Mullarkey was city finance director; Maggie Stanko was public works director; Carter Rhoads was police chief; Lindsey Grabiec was clerk of council; Max Lumsden was city attorney; Elizabeth Raber was city engineer; Shadi Ahmad was clerk of Mayors Court; Marissa Severino was fire chief; and Vic Arnoto was city zoning inspector.